Transgenic tobacco plants expressing siRNA targeted against the Mungbean yellow mosaic virus transcriptional activator protein gene efficiently block the viral DNA accumulation.

Abstract

Mungbean yellow mosaic virus (MYMV) is a bipartite begomovirus that infects many pulse crops such as blackgram, mungbean, mothbean, Frenchbean, and soybean. We tested the efficacy of the transgenically expressed intron-spliced hairpin RNA gene of the transcriptional activator protein (hpTrAP) in reducing MYMV DNA accumulation. Tobacco plants transformed with the MYMV hpTrAP gene accumulated 21-22 nt siRNA. Leaf discs of the transgenic plants, agroinoculated with the partial dimers of MYMV, displayed pronounced reduction in MYMV DNA accumulation. Thus, silencing of the TrAP gene, a suppressor of gene silencing, emerged as an effective strategy to control MYMV.